Enchantment: a feeling of great pleasure and enjoyment for something wonderful and unusual; the state of being under a spell; the power and quality of attracting.

Synonyms: charm, fascination, delight, beauty, joy, attraction, bliss, bewitch, ecstasy, rapture, mesmerism, ravishment, captivation, allurement

There is just something about the word enchantment that captivates me, inspiring feelings of magnetism and joy. The first time I remember encountering it was when I was driving across the state of New Mexico on a road trip back in 2000. As I crossed the state line, there was a sign welcoming me to the “Land of Enchantment.”

I was immediately fascinated that a state would describe itself as enchanting, but after driving across the state twice on that trip, I had to agree that they were on to something.

The landscape and the expansive feeling that it gave me as I gazed upon its beauty and grandeur was so bewitching that I dreamed of moving there one day to experience that level of enchantment on a daily basis, Five years later, I moved to Santa Fe where I resided for 10 amazing years! This is just one small example to illustrate how being enchanted by something can have a powerful impact on your life.

But what makes something or someone enchanting and why is this even important in the grand scheme of things?

In my opinion, enchantment fulfills an innate human need to experience the value of story and fairy tale as medicine. It harnesses the power of pleasure, fantasy and possibility into a collective dream that inspires us to greater heights within our imaginations by speaking to our souls’ deepest longings and desires.

Enchantment draws out of us the courage to explore why we are here and to have fun chasing down our wildest ambitions. We are transformed by potentiality into the creatrixes of our own fantastical stories, and through these transformations, we add to the enchanting mythologies of all of humanity.  

One of the surprising gifts that bellydance has given me is the opportunity to explore what I call the “enchanting arts” in the most personal and profound way.

This started through the repetitive act of self-love and discovery that I experienced with each layer of bellydance I learned, enchanting myself as I became more coordinated and in control of my body. As my interest deepened and I delved into costuming, makeup, dance history, cultural study, musicality, stage presence, rituals, sensuality, and archetypes—unbeknownst to me, I found myself embarking upon a lifelong devotion of the enchanting arts.

Over time and through the many performance opportunities I have experienced, my study and practice of these enchanting arts have come together to the point of actually embodying enchantment every time I step on a stage.

I become the enchantress who dances my unique story complete with the raw emotions of being a woman and mother. When I share my dance and open up to my deepest self in front of an audience, this is where the real magic happens. I experience the mystical ecstasy inspired from the music and expressed through my dancing—known in Arabic as saltanah—and I feel divinely connected to and transformed into the heroine of my own fairy tale!

I believe that anyone can experience divinity in this way, both through the ritual of dance and through mastering the enchanting arts.

My vision is to create a new pathway of exploration into these enchanting arts and to offer inspiring coursework for becoming more enchanted with yourself and your own femininity. I invite you to join me on this exciting journey of self discovery!